Technology Business Management (TBM) Taxonomy
- Overview
- Taxonomy 5.0.1
- Taxonomy 4.1
- Taxonomy 4.0
- Taxonomy 3.0.2
- Taxonomy 2.1
- Taxonomy 2.0
- Taxonomy 1.0
The TBM Taxonomy
The TBM Taxonomy is the global standard for classifying technology costs, resources, and services in a way that enables consistent, business-aligned decision-making. Created and maintained by the TBM Council, it provides a structured model that organizations use to analyze technology financials, improve accountability, and connect technology investments to business outcomes.
TBM Taxonomy 5.0.1 is the latest version of the standard for modeling technology cost, consumption, and value. Previous versions are available in the tabs above for reference and comparison, including detailed summaries of changes over time. The taxonomy is designed to be extensible and can be adapted to industry-specific needs—see the taxonomy extensions for examples of how it’s been tailored for sectors like healthcare, government, and utilities and more.
For organizations new to TBM, the taxonomy serves as a roadmap to connect financial data, operational metrics, and business value. It supports modern delivery methods, public cloud consumption, AI adoption, and more. You can download the latest version of the taxonomy to get started.
Do you want to know what the TBM Taxonomy means for you? Check out our role specific introductions to gain a deeper understanding of how the taxonomy supports your particular interests:
- The Practice Lead’s Guide to the TBM Taxonomy – Translating financial and operational data into executive insights
- The CIO’s Guide to the TBM Taxonomy – Governing technology as a strategic business capability
- The CFO’s Guide to the TBM Taxonomy – Governing technology as a financial investment
Quick Tip: If you are updating your TBM Model to version 5.0.1, check out our taxonomy migration page for guidance and steps on completing your migration.
What’s New in Version 5.0.1
This release reflects changes in how organizations acquire, manage, and deliver technology. Version 5.0.1 introduces structural and terminology updates aimed at improving clarity, modeling flexibility, and alignment with modern operations.
- Public cloud and SaaS spend now have dedicated treatment to support accurate modeling and allocation.
- Artificial Intelligence is supported across layers, enabling better tracking of infrastructure and solution costs.
- Technology Resource Towers replace “Towers” as the updated term for core infrastructure and service categories.
These updates help organizations better align their taxonomy with practices like Agile, FinOps, and ITFM, while supporting integrations with standards such as CSDM, FAIR, and NIST. Visit our Connected Standards page to explore how the taxonomy maps into these models.
NOTE: Beginning with taxonomy version 5.0, taxonomy visuals are no longer provided in a separate file and are now present as appendices in the TBM Taxonomy white paper.
Why the TBM Taxonomy Matters
Technology is one of the largest and most strategic investments organizations make, yet most lack a unified model to explain where the money goes and what value it delivers. The TBM Taxonomy brings structure and commonality to that conversation.
Here’s why it’s foundational:
- Establishes consistency across IT, Finance, and Business reporting
- Enables allocation and benchmarking of cloud, SaaS, and infrastructure spend
- Supports showback, chargeback, and total cost of ownership modeling
- Connects GL accounts, IT services, and business outcomes into a single model
- Facilitates reporting aligned with standards like CSDM, FAIR, and ITFM
- Underpins TBM Modeling, KPIs, and Agile value stream alignment
To see how the taxonomy connects to real-world scenarios, explore the Knowledge Base for topics like Agile delivery, Cloud, AI, and Labor.
Who Should Use the TBM Taxonomy
This standard is designed for anyone responsible for managing, modeling, or communicating the value of technology. It’s used by organizations at every maturity level—from those starting their first showback model to enterprises aligning their investment planning with business outcomes.
You’ll find the taxonomy particularly valuable if you are:
- A CIO or CTO, needing to translate technology investments into strategic outcomes
- A CFO of IT or finance lead, looking to allocate and justify technology spending
- A TBM Office leader or analyst, managing cost models, chargeback, and dashboards
- A FinOps practitioner, working to make cloud consumption financially accountable
- A service or product owner, seeking transparency into the cost of delivery
- A systems integrator or consultant, implementing TBM-aligned processes and tooling
To deepen your understanding, consider enrolling in a Council-hosted training program or exploring the tools and providers that support taxonomy-compliant platforms.
Structure of the TBM Taxonomy
The taxonomy is built on four interconnected layers, each representing a different lens on technology spend and value. Together, they allow organizations to trace every dollar of technology investment from its origin in financial records to its ultimate business impact.
Technology Cost Pool Layer
The Cost Pool Layer classifies expenses based on what was purchased—labor, software, cloud services, facilities—not where or how it’s used. This foundational layer is often aligned directly to general ledger accounts and reflects the nature of cost.
In Version 5.0.1, Labor is featured prominently as both a spend-based and headcount-based cost pool. This allows organizations to track workforce costs with greater precision and understand their impact across delivery models. For example, Labor costs map into multiple Technology Resource Towers, since people support every function—from compute to security to platform services. Labor expenses can be split across towers based on time tracking, usage models, or proportional allocation strategies.
Quick Tip: Visit our Labor topic page for more information on using TBM to manage labor costs.
Technology Resource Towers Layer
Formerly known simply as “Towers,” this layer is now officially referred to as Technology Resource Towers. It groups resources by function: compute, storage, data, network, security, end-user devices, and more. These towers are where technology is planned, managed, and benchmarked.
In Version 5.0.1, the taxonomy expands to include new towers such as Data, Risk & Compliance, and IoT, and introduces specialized support for emerging domains like blockchain and quantum computing.
The relationship between cost pools and resource towers may not always be obvious. Click the button below to access our interactive tool that shows the relationships between Cost Pools and individual Resource Sub-Towers. Your organization can reference this mapping tool when mapping to Resource Towers for the first time or when migrating to TBM Taxonomy 5.0.1.
Resource Tower Mapping Tool not available on mobile, please use Desktop or Tablet
To understand how towers contribute to value, consider a digital product such as a customer-facing mobile banking app. This solution would rely on resources from multiple towers—compute for backend processing, data for analytics, network for mobile access, security and compliance to manage risk, and end-user platforms to interface with customers. Each of these towers contributes costs that roll up into the total cost of the solution.
Technology Solutions Layer
The Solutions Layer represents the products and services delivered by the Technology organization that are consumed to generate business or operational value.
Solutions serve as the consumable endpoints of the Technology organization’s efforts. These products and services may be consumed externally by business units, customers, or partners. They may also be consumed internally by other technology teams and systems.
Importantly, Solutions are not limited to “business-facing” offerings. Many are foundational or enabling in nature, such as developer tooling, automation services, or integration brokers that are consumed by other parts of the Technology organization itself.
In the TBM model, Solutions are the culmination of financial, technical, and operational inputs and do not map upward to additional taxonomy layers. Instead, their costs are allocated directly to Consumers using usage, cost-driver, or attribution models that reflect value realization.
Unlike other layers, solutions don’t “map upward” in the traditional sense. Instead, the costs of solutions are allocated across consumers—the business units, products, or customer groups who benefit from them. This allocation may be based on usage data, headcount, even-spread models, or other business-aligned metrics.
Version 5.0 introduces a new solution type for Artificial Intelligence and retires the Platform solution type, redistributing those elements under Delivery and Infrastructure. Applications are no longer represented in this layer; they are now treated within the Technology Resource Towers.
For vertical-specific or domain-based solution examples, browse the taxonomy extensions for Federal, Utilities, Banking, and others.
Technology Consumer Layer
At the top of the taxonomy is the Business Layer, which defines the consumers of IT services. These may include internal business units, external customers, joint ventures, or products and programs. The Business Layer exists to make IT spend visible to the people and functions that fund it.
Costs passed from the Solutions Layer are shown back—or charged back—to these business entities. This enables consumption-based accountability, value realization, and alignment with business strategies. For example, a CRM solution may be charged back to the sales and marketing business units based on login volume, storage usage, or licensed user counts.
This layer is essential for linking IT investments to Organizational Value Drivers and supporting outcomes-based funding models. You can learn more about these practices in our Framework 2.0 Foundations and Organizational Value Drivers sections.
Understanding Views
In the TBM Taxonomy, Views represent how different stakeholders—Finance, IT, and Business—need to see the data to support their decision-making. Each View is a cross-section of the taxonomy that reflects specific questions, goals, or responsibilities.
For example, the Finance View focuses on cost pools and resource towers to support budgeting, planning, and chargeback. The IT View emphasizes resource towers and solutions to support service management, optimization, and architecture. The Business View highlights solutions and consumers to evaluate value delivery and consumption.
Each View has its own structural requirements, meaning certain layers must be populated to produce the desired reports and insights. Views are not alternative taxonomies—they are validated lenses through which the taxonomy is interpreted and applied.
You can find examples and tooling for these Views in our TBM Modeling section and TBM Executive Overview publication.
What Comes Next
To get started, download the latest version of the taxonomy, including the whitepaper, graphics, and data tables. If your organization operates in a regulated or specialized industry, you may benefit from one of our downloadable extensions.
To go deeper, explore the TBM Knowledge Base, take a course through our training programs, or browse supported platforms in our tools and providers directory. If you’re ready to model your organization’s financial reality, the TBM Taxonomy will help you do it with accuracy, flexibility, and alignment.
TBM Taxonomy v5.0.1
5.0.1 Released: July 18, 2025
5.0 Originally Released: June 6, 2025
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 5.0.1 of the TBM Taxonomy represents the most comprehensive update to the taxonomy since version 4.0. This release builds on the structural clarity introduced in versions 4.0 and 4.1 while modernizing key layers to better reflect today’s technology delivery practices—including shifts toward platform-centric operations, modular service delivery, and new modes of stakeholder consumption.
The update reinforces a modular structure of Layers and Views, sharpens the distinction between technology construction and consumption, introduces a unified approach to tagging, and significantly enhances solution definitions. These improvements are designed to support modeling use cases that require greater granularity, flexibility, and relevance across industries. Notably, v5.0.1 provides improved modeling capabilities for Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) investments, responding to the rapid rise of these domains across enterprise IT environments.
Quick Tip: If you are updating your TBM Model to version 5.0.1, check out our taxonomy migration page for guidance and steps on completing your migration.
Quick Tip: Explore our Resource Tower Mapping Tool to discover the relationships between Cost Pools and individual Resource Sub-Towers. You can use this resource to better understand the Resource Towers layer, to map costs to the Resource Towers layer, or to support your migration to TBM Taxonomy 5.0.1.
Resource Tower Mapping Tool not available on mobile, please use Desktop or Tablet
Key Conceptual Changes
Application Modeling
In TBM v5.0.1, Applications have been purposefully removed from the Solutions taxonomy and are now modeled within the Technology Tower layer. This update clarifies a long-standing source of confusion: applications are not business-facing deliverables in themselves but intermediaries that enable services and solutions. While applications continue to support a wide range of Solution Offerings, they are no longer treated as the Solutions directly consumed by business stakeholders. Instead, they are managed as technology assets whose costs, lifecycles, and ownership are distinct from the Products and Services they support.
This separation reflects a best-practice principle: an entity cannot be classified as both an Application and a Solution at the same time. It also provides lifecycle flexibility. For example, a Solution Offering called Customer Portal can persist even as its underlying Application changes—from a custom-built system to a commercial SaaS platform. The Solution remains stable in reporting, while the Application lifecycle is independently tracked and rationalized.
At the Tower layer, Sub-Towers such as Business Applications and Application Development & Management capture the direct labor and non-labor costs of Applications. To understand the fully burdened cost of an application portfolio, however, TBM relies on the conceptual model between Towers and Solutions. In this reporting view, direct Application Tower spend is combined with other Technology Towers that Applications consume, such as infrastructure, platform services, or ticket support. This approach ensures lifecycle insights extend beyond the Application itself to include all relevant cost drivers.
When paired with TBM Methods and Application Portfolio metadata, this reporting layer provides meaningful lifecycle analysis for rationalization, cost attribution, and enterprise architecture alignment. In practice, it enables organizations to manage Applications as technology enablers while keeping Solutions stable, consistent, and business-facing.
Tagging Support
Version 5.0.1 introduces tagging capabilities across the Towers and Solutions layers, allowing organizations to add metadata to taxonomy elements for advanced segmentation, filtering, and reporting. While guidance on tag creation is still developing, the structure allows for eventual adoption of tagging extensions, which may provide standardized tag sets for common use cases (e.g., cloud readiness, ESG relevance, security classification).
Cloud & AI Visibility
To better reflect evolving delivery models and technology priorities, v5.0.1 enhances support for both cloud and artificial intelligence investments. A dedicated Cloud Services cost pool and sub-pools now enable more accurate financial tracking of public cloud consumption across major vendors. In the Tower layer, the introduction of an AI Models sub-tower supports modeling of platforms and tooling purpose-built for AI workloads. The Solutions layer has also been expanded to include multiple AI-related offerings—such as AI/ML Model Development, AI Platform Services, and Generative AI Solutions—providing clearer visibility into the business-facing outcomes delivered by AI technologies. These updates allow for more granular, end-to-end modeling of AI and cloud resources across cost, infrastructure, and solution domains.
Consumer Layer
The Business Layer introduced in version 4.0 has been renamed the Consumer Layer to better reflect its intended role: identifying and describing the organizational units or roles that consume technology services. The renamed layer is intentionally simplified in version 5.0.1 to encourage organizations to develop their own consumer hierarchies based on how they report on consumption and value. Future guidance will support common consumer models, but version 5.0.1 provides a lean baseline to build from.
Structural Updates
Expanded Cost Pool Descriptions
The Cost Pool layer retains the same high-level structure but includes updated descriptions and clarifications across multiple cost pools and sub-pools. These refinements aim to improve alignment with contemporary accounting and IT finance practices and support better mapping from the general ledger. Several updates also reflect the rising costs associated with cloud services, managed services, and labor-intensive support for AI infrastructure.
Tower Layer Enhancements
Numerous new Towers and Sub-Towers have been introduced to reflect growing investment areas and architectural shifts, including:
- New Tower for Data, improving visibility into organizational data capabilities and infrastructure
- New Sub-Tower: AI Models, capturing AI-specific tooling and workloads
- Refined Tower definitions, removing outdated language and improving modeling precision
- Expanded applications-related sub-towers, enabling more granular classification
Applications-related sub-towers have been expanded and clarified, and a new tagging capability allows for finer-grained analysis across Towers.
Refined Solutions Layer
The Solutions layer remains a critical interface between the technology organization and the business, but now includes:
- More precise definitions that exclude applications as standalone solutions
- Updated example solution offerings to improve clarity and alignment
- Retired or merged elements to reduce duplication
These updates enable clearer delineation between what is delivered (solutions) and what is used to deliver it (applications, infrastructure, platforms). Solutions can now better reflect modern cloud-first delivery models and include AI-powered capabilities offered as business services.
Additional Updates from the White Paper
The version 5.0.1 white paper includes new or revised content in several areas:
- Tagging guidance has been added to prepare organizations for metadata-driven modeling, even if detailed tag libraries are not yet formalized.
- Expanded discussions on TBM layers and views, especially around the separation of consumption from construction.
- Clarified definitions for Towers, Solutions, and Consumers to support consistent adoption across teams.
- Removed guidance that previously supported now-deprecated modeling practices (e.g., application-based Solutions).
- Revised section on Extending the Taxonomy, which now encourages modular extensions aligned to TBM standards and references a forthcoming Taxonomy Extension Toolkit.
- New section on Implementing the Taxonomy, replacing earlier adoption guidance with a clearer structure for incorporating the taxonomy into planning, modeling, and reporting processes.
- Removed subsections on industry-specific structures and TBM Council governance details to streamline the document and reinforce a focus on taxonomy content.
Summary of Key Changes from v4.1 to v5.0.1
Conceptual Revisions
- Applications removed from Solutions and modeled in Towers instead
- Business Layer renamed to Consumer Layer with simplified baseline structure
- Tagging capabilities introduced for Towers and Solutions
- Cloud and AI modeling explicitly supported via structural additions and tagging
Cost Pools
- No structural changes, but multiple descriptions refined for clarity and relevance
- Cloud-related cost guidance improved, especially regarding public cloud and SaaS delineation
Towers
- New Towers: Data, AI & Automation, Connectivity
- Application-focused sub-towers added or revised
- Redundant or outdated elements retired
Solutions
- Solutions no longer include applications
- Example solution offerings updated for clarity
- Several elements retired or consolidated
Technology Cost Pools Table
| Cost Pool | Cost Sub-Pool | Description | Change from version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Expenditures (OpEx) | |||
Staffing  | Includes salaries, benefits, and other costs associated with internal personnel (e.g. employee, temporary employee, intern), Time & Material contractor, and staff augmentation resources delivering or supporting technology services. Excludes consultant and managed service resources. | Renamed “Internal Labor” cost pool to “Labor Resources”. | |
| Internal Labor | Costs for internal labor (e.g. employees, temporary employees, interns). Includes salaries, benefits, occupancy, travel, training, new hire investigation, office furniture, supplies, janitorial services, and any other internal labor related expenses. | Renamed “Expense” cost sub pool to “Internal Labor”. Updated description. | |
| Staff Augmentation | Costs for staff augmentation and Time & Material contractor resources delivering technology services. | New cost sub-pool. Replaces the “External Labor > Expense” cost sub-pool. | |
| Other Operating | Other labor headcount expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | New cost sub-pool. | |
Outside Services  | Expenses for external personnel providing technology services that do not contribute to organizational headcount. Includes consulting and managed services engaged for specific projects, operations, or support functions, excluding staff augmentation and Time & Material contractors. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Consulting | Costs for external consulting services, including project-based engagements and advisory support. | ||
| Managed Services | Managed service provider costs for specific operations or project-related activities. | ||
| Other Operating | Other labor expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | New cost sub-pool. | |
Cloud Services  | A category for all public, private, and hybrid cloud services, including IaaS and PaaS, supporting enterprise technology infrastructure and applications. Excludes SaaS, which is categorized in the “Software & SaaS” Cost Pool. | New cost pool created to elevate transparency of cloud investments. | |
| Cloud Service Provider | External public cloud expenses, including IaaS and PaaS. Excludes SaaS, which is categorized under the “Software & SaaS” Cost Pool. | Moved from the “Outside Services” cost pool. Excluded SaaS expenses to clarify its categorization. | |
| Other Operating | Other cloud services expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | New cost sub-pool. | |
Hardware  | Includes all physical technology assets such as servers, PCs, storage arrays, network appliances, mobile devices, IP phones, and printers. Excludes property, office space, raised floor facilities, and infrastructure components like racks. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Lease | Leasing costs for hardware, including payment structures for equipment acquired through leasing agreements. | ||
| Maintenance & Support | Costs associated with maintaining and supporting hardware, including repairs and warranty services. | ||
| Depreciation | Depreciation and amortization of capitalized hardware investments. | ||
| Managed Services | Managed service provider costs related to hardware operations and maintenance. | New cost sub-pool. | |
| Other Operating | Other hardware expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | Renamed “Expense” cost sub-pool to “Other Operating”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
Software & SaaS  | Includes the licensing, maintenance, support, and SaaS costs for all software, including operating systems, middleware, databases, and business applications. | Updated cost pool name. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Licensing | Costs for software licenses and renewals. Excludes SaaS, maintenance, and support services. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Maintenance & Support | Expenses for maintaining and supporting software, including updates and patches for existing licenses. | ||
| Depreciation & Amortization | Depreciation and amortization of capitalized software costs over their accounting life. | ||
| Other Operating | Other software and SaaS expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | ||
| SaaS | Expenses for software provided as a service (SaaS), including cloud-hosted solutions. | New cost sub-pool. | |
Data Center Facilities 
| Includes the floor space, power, cooling, and other utilities costs, environmental controls (e.g., fire suppression), power distribution, and other related costs for managing data center facilities. Excludes personnel and hardware components like servers and storage. | Renamed “Facilities & Power” cost pool to “Data Center Facilities”. | |
| Lease | Leasing costs for data center facilities, including rental and associated operational expenses. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Maintenance & Support | Costs associated with maintaining and supporting data center facilities, including repairs and upgrades. | ||
| Depreciation & Amortization | Depreciation and amortization of capitalized data center facilities investments. | ||
| Managed Services | Costs associated with an external service provider who takes responsibility for managing and maintaining an organization’s data center facilities. | New cost sub-pool. | |
| Other Operating | Other data center facilities expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | Renamed “Expense” cost sub-pool to “Other Operating”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
Telecom  | Includes all telecommunications charges, such as leased lines, domestic and international voice (including mobile), MPLS, ISP, and other network connectivity charges. Excludes mobile devices, IP phones, and related hardware expenses supported via the Hardware pool. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Lease | Leasing costs for telecom infrastructure, including circuits and related equipment. | ||
| Maintenance & Support | Expenses for maintaining and supporting telecom infrastructure, including repairs and upgrades. | ||
| Depreciation & Amortization | Depreciation and amortization of capitalized telecom assets over their accounting life. | ||
| Managed Services | Managed service provider costs for telecom-related services. | New cost sub-pool. | |
| Other Operating | Other telecom expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | Renamed “Expense” cost sub-pool to “Other Operating”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
Misc Costs  | Miscellaneous or non-standard expenses that do not fit within other defined cost pools, covering irregular or undefined expenditures. | Renamed “Other” cost pool to “Miscellaneous Costs”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Managed Services | Managed service provider costs unrelated to any other Cost Pool. | New cost sub-pool. | |
| Other Operating | Miscellaneous or non-standard expenses that cannot qualify for another Cost Sub Pool or insufficient details are available to determine. | Renamed “Other” cost sub-pool to “Other Operating”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
Cross Charges  | Costs incurred from other internal groups (eg HR, finance, facilities, and other Technology groups). | Renamed “Internal Services” cost pool to “Cross Charges”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| by Internal Department | Costs incurred from other internal groups (e.g. HR, finance, facilities, and other Technology groups). | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| External Labor | Retired. Reassign volumes to “Staff Augmentation” cost sub-pool. | ||
| Capital Expenditures (CapEx) | |||
| Staffing | Internal Labor Capital | Capitalized internal labor costs related to technology services and project delivery. | Renamed “Capital” cost sub-pool to “Internal Labor Capital”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. |
| Staff Augmentation Capital | Costs for staff augmentation and Time & Material contractor resources delivering technology services. | New cost sub-pool. Replaces the “External Labor > Capital” cost sub-pool to adhere to best practices for quantifying labor headcount. | |
| Outside Services | Capital | Capitalized costs for external labor services unrelated to headcount, supporting specific projects or initiatives. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. |
| Cloud Services | Capital | Capitalized cloud services expenses. | New cost sub-pool. |
| Hardware | Capital | Capitalized hardware expenses. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. |
| Software & SaaS | Capital | Capitalized software & SaaS expenses. | |
| Data Center Facilities | Capital | Capitalized data center facilities expenses. | |
| Telecom | Capital | Capitalized telecom expenses (including capitalized telecom equipment and telecom infrastructure investments). | |
| Misc Costs | Capital | Capitalized costs unrelated to any other Cost Pool. | |
| Retired. Reassign volumes to “Staff Augmentation Capital” cost sub-pool. | |||
Technology Resource Towers Table
| Tower | Sub-Tower | Description | Change from Version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
Data Center  | Purpose-built facilities to securely house computer equipment. Data Centers provide racks/cabinets, clean & redundant power, data connectivity, environmental controls including temperature, humidity and fire suppression, physical security, and the people to run and operate the facility and its infrastructure. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Enterprise Data Center | Purpose-built facilities providing centralized housing, physical security, and environmental controls for a variety of infrastructure components, including compute, storage, network, and converged systems, essential for enterprise-level operations. | ||
| Other Facilities | Supporting facilities (eg computer rooms, telco closets) within corporate or remote locations to house essential technology equipment securely. | ||
Compute  | Devices providing the processing capacity required to execute application logic, manage workflows, and support user transactions. Includes general-purpose and specialized compute resources across physical, virtual, and cloud environments in addition to all associated hardware, labor, and external services directly supporting compute infrastructure. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| AI Compute | Specialized compute resources with high-performance capabilities, including GPU-based servers, optimized explicitly for AI and machine learning workloads. | New sub-tower. | |
| Servers | Dedicated physical and virtual servers supporting essential applications and data processing needs across the organization. Includes related hardware, software, labor, and support resources. Excludes integrated multifunctional appliances like Converged Infrastructure. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Converged Infrastructure | Integrated appliances combining compute, storage, and network functionalities within a single solution, designed for streamlined deployment in data centers or similar infrastructure locations. | ||
| Mainframe | Legacy mainframe systems running enterprise-grade applications and operations. | Revised to emphasize the legacy nature of mainframes. | |
| High Performance Computing (HPC) | Advanced computing resources for scientific, engineering, and complex data simulations, optimized for parallel processing and intensive workloads outside AI-specific applications. | Revised to emphasize HPC applications. | |
| Quantum | Dedicated compute resources engineered for quantum-native workloads such as quantum optimization, molecular modeling, or cryptographic simulation. Excludes classical or AI-oriented compute resources. | New sub-tower. | |
| Retired. Reassign volumes to “Servers” sub-tower. | |||
Storage  | Centralized and scalable data storage used to support enterprise applications, databases, backups, and unstructured content. Includes high-availability and archival storage solutions deployed across on-premise, cloud, and mainframe environments. Excludes internal device storage integrated into servers, end user devices, and multifunction appliances. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| AI Storage | High-performance storage resources designed to meet the speed and volume demands of AI workloads, supporting rapid data access and retrieval for machine learning and deep learning processes. | New sub-tower. | |
| Online Storage | Active storage resources like Storage Area Network (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS), supporting centralized, high-availability data access across distributed environments, with configurations for on-premise or cloud storage. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Offline Storage | Storage solutions for archiving, backup, and disaster recovery, used to protect data and ensure compliance in distributed storage environments, with limited access to enable secure long-term retention. | ||
| Mainframe Online Storage | Online storage arrays dedicated to mainframe environments, providing necessary equipment and support for continuous mainframe operations. | ||
| Mainframe Offline Storage | Storage resources dedicated to mainframe environments, supporting archiving, backup, disaster recovery, and compliance needs. | ||
Network  | Infrastructure required to enable secure, high-speed data and voice connectivity across enterprise environments. Supports communication within and between data centers, office buildings, remote locations, and cloud platforms. Includes local and wide area networks, voice infrastructure, and specialized networking to support high-performance or workload-specific needs. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| AI Network | Network infrastructure optimized for AI data transmission, enabling low-latency connections and high data throughput for AI-related tasks. | New sub-tower. | |
| LAN | Local Area Network infrastructure enabling high-speed, secure connectivity within office environments or data centers, facilitating reliable intra-office communication and device connections. | Previous LAN/WAN sub-tower split for better clarity. | |
| Voice & Collaboration | Voice resources which enable or distribute voice services through on premise equipment including PBX, VoIP, voicemail, and handsets (excludes telecom and communication services). | Renamed from “Voice” to “Voice & Collaboration” with rephrased description for broader scope. | |
| WAN | Wide Area Network infrastructure supporting secure, high-speed connections across dispersed locations and data centers, specifically designed for long-distance inter-office communication and global data transport. | Previous LAN/WAN sub-tower split for better clarity. | |
| Retired. Reassign volumes to WAN sub-tower. | |||
Application 
| Encompasses the full lifecycle and operational support of software applications and the platforms that enable their execution, integration, and interoperability. Includes planning, development, licensing, and sustainment of business and technical applications, as well as internally built and externally acquired software, middleware, orchestration tools, and runtime environments that support scalable and connected software delivery. | Consolidated the Platform tower into Application. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| AI Models | Platforms and tools specifically designed for AI development and deployment, including machine learning frameworks and model orchestration. | New sub-tower. | |
| Blockchain & Tokenization | Platforms for developing and managing blockchain applications, including tokenization solutions for secure and decentralized data and asset management. | New sub-tower. | |
| Container Orchestration | Resources supporting container lifecycle management, including deployment, scaling, and monitoring for flexible application environments. | Rephrased to highlight container lifecycle management. | |
| Development | Resources involved with the lifecycle of application development, including planning, design, coding, testing, and deployment packaging. | Renamed from “Application Development” to “Development.” | |
| Licensing | Software licensing and renewal expenses, including standard vendor entitlements such as patching rights, and version upgrades defined in the license terms. | Consolidation of “Business Software” and “End User Software.” | |
| Middleware | Middleware resources supporting cross-platform application integration, communication, and information sharing. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Mainframe Middleware | Middleware resources supporting application and system integration within mainframe environments, enabling data sharing and communication. | Rephrased to highlight mainframe context. | |
| Support & Operations | Resources for ongoing operations, maintenance, issue resolution, training, and minor updates of existing applications, ensuring consistent performance and reliability. | Renamed from “Application Support & Operations” to “Support & Operations”. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Retired. Reassign volumes to Licensing & Maintenance sub-tower. | |||
Data  | Resources used to structure, manage, govern, and operationalize data assets. Includes databases, metadata, governance frameworks, and data operations that ensure data integrity, interoperability, and alignment to business and compliance requirements. | Created a new tower to consolidate sub-towers related to data. | |
| Data Operations | Systems, tools, and resources that support enterprise data operations, including data quality, synchronization, interoperability, schema design, and file management. Also includes the acquisition and management of data subscriptions and the processing of high-volume or fast-moving data, particularly unstructured or semi-structured, used in operational workflows. | Combines “Big Data” sub-tower and “Data Operations” sub-tower. Moved to the new Data tower. | |
| Data Management | Resources involved in managing data and content across the enterprise, including Data Governance, Master Data Management, and Metadata Management. Includes establishing data/content management policies, standards, processes, and procedures and maintaining the enterprise information asset inventory and data set catalogue. | Moved from the Tech Management tower to the new Data tower. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Mainframe Database | Database resources dedicated to mainframe environments, supporting physical storage, management, and database administration. | Revised for mainframe- specific context. Moved to the new Data tower. | |
| Database | Core database resources managing structured data storage and retrieval for applications, supporting data integrity, access, and administrative management for operational purposes. | Moved from the retired Platform tower to the new Data tower. | |
| Retired. Reassign volumes to Data Operations sub-tower. | |||
Delivery  | Resources for the monitoring, coordination, governance, and continuous improvement of Technology operations. Includes service management, portfolio oversight, operational command centers, and supporting capabilities that ensure reliable and aligned delivery of Technology services. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Central Print | Centralized print resources supporting customer billing, documentation, and internal printing needs. | Reassigned from “Output” to “Delivery” Tower. Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Client Management | Resources focused on managing relationships with business units, ensuring alignment with business requirements. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Operations Center | Centralized operations for monitoring and intervention across global infrastructure, supporting stability and reliability. | ||
| Service Management | Resources involved with the incident, problem, and change management activities as part of the IT Service Management process (excludes the Tier 1 help desk). Also includes resources involved with designing, monitoring, reporting, and improving services, and the associated development/maintenance of service catalogs, service measures, and service agreements. | Renamed from “IT Service Management” to “Service Management.” Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Tech Portfolio & Project Management | Resources supporting strategic portfolio management and investment in business and technical initiatives, covering project and product oversight, funding, and prioritization. Includes Solution Owners, Project/Program/Portfolio Managers, PMO, AMO, and related resources. | Renamed from “Program, Product & Project Management” to “Portfolio & Investment Management” with rephrased description for strategic emphasis. | |
Tech Management 
| Strategic, financial, organizational, and administrative resources that govern and support the Technology organization. Includes enterprise architecture, financial planning, talent management, vendor oversight, and executive leadership embedded in and supporting the Technology organization. | Renamed tower from “IT Management & Strategic Planning” to “Tech Management”. | |
| Enterprise Architecture | Architectural resources which standardize, integrate, and enhance efficiency across business technology solutions, supporting enterprise-wide strategies. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Tech Finance | Financial management and TBM resources overseeing budgeting, spending, showbacks/chargebacks, and solution costing. | Renamed from “IT Finance” to “Finance.” Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Tech Human Capital Management | Resources embedded within the Technology organization and involved in the acquisition, development, performance management, compensation, and separation of Technology personnel. Included are initial and periodic personnel background investigations and drug testing, as well as training on organizational policies and procedures. | Renamed sub-tower from “IT Human Capital Management” to “Tech Human Capital Management.” Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Tech Management & Strategy | Resources supporting strategic planning, governance, and administration of the Technology organization. Includes CIO, CTO, Chief of Staff, senior Technology leaders, and administrative support. | Renamed sub-tower from “IT Management & Strategic Planning” to “Tech Management & Strategy.” Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Tech Vendor Management | Vendor management resources focusing on contracts, performance, and delivery with external providers. | Renamed sub-tower from “IT Vendor Management” to “Tech Vendor Management.” Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
Security  | Resources that safeguard technology systems, data, and operations. Includes cybersecurity and disaster recovery planning to ensure protection, resilience, and continuity of Technology operations. Excludes risk management and compliance. | Split from the “Security & Compliance” tower. | |
| Digital Security | Security resources dedicated to proactively protecting enterprise systems and data integrity through policy development, protective measures, real-time threat monitoring, and incident response. | Renamed the sub-tower from “Security” to “Digital Security.” Clarified operational security role. | |
| Disaster Recovery | Resources dedicated to disaster recovery planning, policy setting, and testing to ensure organizational resilience and continuity. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Retired. Consider a sub-tower in the “Risk & Compliance” tower. | |||
Risk & Compliance  | Resources supporting the identification, management, and fulfillment of Technology risk, regulatory, data privacy, and compliance obligations. Includes capabilities for risk assessment, audit readiness, legal compliance, and adherence to internal and external control frameworks. | Split from the “Security & Compliance” tower. | |
| Identity & Access Governance | Resources managing digital identities, authentication, authorization, and governance of access rights (e.g., IAM solutions, privileged access management). | New Sub-towers. | |
| Regulatory & Audit | Systems and resources supporting compliance reporting, auditing, legal hold, data privacy, and regulatory submission requirements. | ||
| Risk Management | Resources supporting identification, assessing, and mitigating technology, operational, and enterprise risks. | ||
Smart Devices  | Resources supporting operational technology through sensor-based input, localized processing, and device-to-device or device-to-cloud communication across industrial, commercial, and workplace settings. Includes embedded, IoT-enabled, and edge-connected devices that monitor, automate, or interact with the physical environment. | New Tower. | |
| Industrial & Control Systems | Specialized IoT devices and systems that manage or automate physical processes within industrial environments. Includes SCADA systems, PLCs, manufacturing control units, and operational sensors embedded in critical infrastructure. | New sub-towers. | |
| Intelligent Devices | Edge devices capable of local processing and limited decision-making based on sensor inputs (e.g., smart appliances, embedded controllers). | ||
End User  | Resources enabling individual productivity and day-to-day technology interaction. Includes user computing equipment, mobile technology, workspace devices, and centralized support channels such as help desks and deskside assistance. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Conferencing & AV | Equipment and resources for conferencing and audiovisual communication, supporting workforce collaboration. | ||
| Deskside Support | Support resources assisting with moves, setups, and issue resolution. | ||
| Help Desk | Centralized help desk supporting user requests and first-line issue resolution. | ||
| Mobile Devices | Mobile devices supporting individual productivity and communication needs. Includes smart watches and other smart wearables. | ||
| Network Printers | Network-connected printers and printing resources accessible to end users. | ||
| Workspace | Physical devices and peripherals supporting individual workspace needs. Includes physical desktops/laptops, thin client machines, and peripherals (eg monitor, mouse, personal printer, speakers, keyboard). Excludes software, labor, and support resources. | ||
| Retired. Reassign volumes to “Application > Licensing & Maintenance” sub-towers. | |||
| Tower no longer required; “Central Print” sub-tower moved to “Delivery.” | |||
| Retired the Platform tower and moved its sub-towers to Application and the new Data towers. | |||
Technology Solutions Tables
Delivery
Solutions supporting the development, deployment, operation, and sustainment of Workplace, Business, and Shared & Corporate solutions. This includes development services that create or modify business-facing capabilities and support operations that assist users and ensure solution availability and performance.
| Category | Name | Description | Change from Version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy & Planning | Supports enterprise-wide planning, governance, and leadership of the organization’s digital capabilities. Activities in this category include solution consulting, enterprise architecture, innovation and R&D, project and product delivery oversight, and partner/vendor management. It also encompasses strategic planning services traditionally associated with service management frameworks. | ||
| Enterprise Architecture | Enterprise architecture guides organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute their business and Technology strategies. | Removed references to “IT” | |
| Business Solution Consulting | Helps the enterprise improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement. This includes business relationship management, demand management, business process analysis as well as technology selection. | ||
| Technology Business Management | Solutions supporting business-aligned technology decisions, including cost transparency, financial management, and value optimization. | ||
| Innovation & Ideation | The investment, development, and incubation of new technologies to create new or better solutions which meet unarticulated or existing market needs. Includes new technology solutions and new product incubation solutions. | ||
| Technology Vendor Management | The management of technology suppliers who provide, deliver and support technology products and solutions. Includes solutions across the life cycle of a vendor including selection, negotiation, contracting, procurement, maintenance and subscription renewals, and performance management. | ||
| Program, Product & Project Management | The process of managing software development-focused projects, programs, and products with the intention of improving an organization’s performance. | ||
| Development | Plan, design, build, test and release new solutions. | ||
| Design & Development | Provides the planning, design, programming, documenting, testing, and fixing involved in creating and maintaining a software product. | ||
| System Integration | Links together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole. This can be accomplished across systems that reside within the enterprise’s data centers as well as with SaaS solutions that reside in the provider’s facilities. | ||
| Modernization & Migration | Provides the planning, design, and architecture for moving from older, often legacy systems and platforms to newer, more modern systems and platforms. Includes the migration of data, including user accounts, user data, configuration data and other datasets needed for operations in the new environment. | ||
| Testing | Executes programs or applications with the intent of finding errors or other defects. The investigations are conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or solution and allow the business to understand the risks of software implementation. Testing may take multiple forms including functional, system, integration, performance, and usability. | ||
| Operations | Monitor, support, manage, and run the enterprise technology systems for the enterprise. Typically provided behind the scenes and not directly user-facing. | ||
| Deployment & Administration | Includes the release management and software distribution solutions to deploy new and/or the most recent software version to the host servers or client computing devices. Also includes ongoing operating system (OS) support and patch management. | ||
| Tech Service Management | Solutions managing incidents, changes, and configurations, including ITSM tools, asset management, and operational tracking. | Confusion with other IT operational services like “Event Management” or “Deployment & Administration.” Replaced “IT” reference with “Technology”. | |
| Capacity Management | Solutions which ensure that resources are right sized to meet current and future business requirements in a cost-effective manner. Takes into account the expected demand from the business or consumer along with the availability and performance of existing capacity and projects future requirements. | Removed references to “IT” and less emphasis on Technology in preparation of EBM. | |
| Event Management | Solutions for monitoring resources and applications, recording events, and delivering actionable insights for system optimization. | Replaced “IT” reference with “Technology”. Lack of clear distinction between events and incidents. | |
| Scheduling | Solutions involved in the execution of tasks required to operate a Technology Service and are often automated using software tools that run batch or online tasks at specific times of the day, week, month or year. | Replaced “IT” reference with “Technology”. | |
Support
| Support the end user community with training, application support, service desk and central print services. | ||
| Application Support | Provides the ongoing operational activities required to keep the application or solution up and running, provide Tier 2 and Tier 3 technical support to more complex or difficult user questions and requests. May also include minor development and validation of smaller application enhancements (e.g., minor changes, new reports). | ||
| Central Print | Provides high-volume and advanced printing for invoices, product literature or other complex documents for mass distribution. May also include folding, envelope stuffing, postage and bundling to expedite distribution. | ||
| Tech Training | Solutions providing structured training programs for users to effectively utilize technology resources, including software, tools, and systems. | Replaced “IT” reference with “Technology”. Improved clarity. | |
| Service Desk | Centralized solutions for user support, troubleshooting, and issue resolution, delivered through multiple communication channels. | Removed references to “IT”. Improved clarity. | |
Security & Compliance | Ensure the integrity, protection and proper use of the enterprises technology systems and data. | ||
| Identity & Access Management | Manages digital identities and governs access to systems, data, and services to ensure the right individuals have the appropriate access at the right time. This includes establishing policies, controls, and technologies to support secure authentication, identity lifecycle management, role-based access, and administrative oversight. | ||
| Security Awareness | Programs to educate and train employees on security policies and best practices to safeguard the organization’s physical and digital assets. | Improved clarity. | |
| Cyber Security & Incident Response | Delivers the capabilities, processes, and technologies to detect, assess, and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents. This includes real-time monitoring, threat intelligence integration, and coordinated incident response to minimize impact and restore normal operations. Key focus areas include cybersecurity monitoring and security incident response. | ||
| Threat & Vulnerability Management | Identifies, assesses, prioritizes, and mitigates security vulnerabilities across applications, infrastructure, networks, and endpoints to reduce the risk of exploitation. This capability supports continuous threat exposure management through proactive scanning, analysis, and remediation planning. | ||
| Data Privacy & Security | Solutions to ensure the security and privacy of organizational and user data, including encryption, classification, and access controls. | Overlap with “Cyber Security & Incident Response” and “Threat & Vulnerability Management”. Improved clarity. | |
| Governance, Risk & Compliance | Solutions for setting policies, controls, and compliance measures to address regulatory, legal, and business risk requirements. | Potential overlap with “Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery” in risk and compliance management. | |
| Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery | Solutions ensuring organizational resilience by restoring operations after disruptive events through disaster recovery capabilities, business continuity policies, and action plans. | Overlap in purpose but lack distinction between the two scopes. | |
| Enabling Platforms | Provide a range of solutions that host and enable other applications. | ||
| Application Hosting | Solutions for hosting and managing applications and web environments, including server provisioning, scalability, and maintenance. | Overlap with “Content Management” and “Development Platform”. Improved clarity. | |
| Development Platform | Providing an environment and toolset for the efficient development, integration, and testing of applications or application solutions, including microservices. May include an integrated development environment (IDE) for source code editing, version control, build automation and debugging. May include low-code development platforms to support less technical developers to create working software or software features. | ||
| Foundation Platform | Includes the core foundation capabilities provided by large ERP systems as well as the “platform as a service” provided by many SaaS applications. ERP foundation platforms (like SAP R/3 Basis or SAP S/4 HANA) are the technical underpinning that enables the ERP application to function. Typically consists of programs and tools that support the interoperability and portability of ERP applications across systems and databases. Many SaaS applications also provide a platform capability to enable integration and development of additional applications or modules that complement the primary application suite. Examples include Salesforce’s Force.com product, ServiceNow’s Now Platform and Appian. | ||
| Message Bus & Integration | Allows different systems to communicate through a shared set of interfaces. Includes event streaming to multiple applications, subscribe and publish notification solution for enterprise and mobile messaging, task completion alerts and threshold alerts. | ||
| Content Management | Supports the creation and modification of digital content from supporting multiple users in a collaborative environment. Includes records management and digital asset management. | ||
| Search | Provides keyword search functions for web and mobile applications. | ||
| Streaming | Delivers live and on-demand media streams including audio and video. | ||
Infrastructure
Foundational facilities, compute, storage, and network solutions delivered by the Technology organization and directly consumed.
| Category | Name | Description | Change from Version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | Provide the physical and virtual computing systems that run business applications, software tools and system services. Can be dedicated or on-demand and may be provided on-premises or through external managed services or public cloud offerings. | ||
| Compute on Demand | Temporary, scalable compute solutions provisioned automatically in response to triggers or schedules, supporting dynamic workload requirements. | Revised for clarity. | |
| Mainframe | Transactional and batch-oriented compute solutions supported by a mainframe infrastructure. | ||
| Physical Compute | Variety of compute configurations comprised of physical servers. These are typically distributed compute solutions based on the Windows, Linux, or Unix operating systems for pre-defined configurations of memory, CPU, and storage. Standard operational support includes security hardening, backup, updates, patches, and centralized monitoring. | ||
| Virtual Compute & Containers | Virtualized compute resources delivered on-demand, including containers for application, data, and workload portability. | Revised for clarity. | |
| Data Center | Provide a secure and controlled environment for housing compute, storage, network, and other technology equipment. | ||
| Enterprise Data Center | Facilities designed to securely house Technology equipment with physical security, redundant power, data connectivity, and environmental controls. Includes enterprise-owned, co-located, or service provider-operated data centers with additional services like shipping, assembly, and maintenance. | Improved clarity. | |
| Other Data Center | Other data center solutions that may be delivered through dedicated secure rooms or telecom closets with a facility. | ||
| Data | Provide a variety of data-related services that capture and retrieve transactional activities in a database, store the data in a centralized data warehouse, provide analytical and visualization tools to explore the data and caching technology to distribute information to the edge to improve performance and response times. | ||
| Database | Provides structured and unstructured data storage solutions to support application access, retrieval, and transaction processing. | ||
| Distributed Cache | An in-memory cache solution that helps improve web application performance. | ||
| Data Management | A set of data analytic solutions that automate the movement and transformation of data including extract, transform and load (ETL) processes, data quality management and master data management. | ||
| Data Warehouse | Provides a central repository or set of repositories of integrated data from one or more disparate sources. Stores current and historical data and are used for creating analytical reports for knowledge workers throughout the enterprise. | ||
| Data Analytics & Visualizations | Provides software solutions and BI tools to analyze and communicate information clearly and efficiently to users via graphs, charts and other visual representations including geospatial analytics. Also includes real-time streaming analysis of data by providing low latency, highly available, scalable complex event processing over streaming data in the cloud. | ||
| Network | Provide the voice and data network and supporting services such as load balancing, domain services, virtual private network, and the internet to enable communications within and outside the enterprise. | ||
| Domain Solutions | Lookup capabilities to convert domain names (e.g., www.acme.com) into the associated IP address to enable communication between hosts. | ||
| Internet Connectivity | Telecommunication solutions using the public internet to enable communications across the organization including its data centers, office buildings, remote locations, partners, and service providers. Virtual Private Networks may be created to limit access and provide security. | ||
| Load Balancing | Optimizes incoming application/workload requests through load balancing and traffic management to deliver high availability and network performance to applications. | ||
| Virtual Private Network | Offers a secure method to authenticate users and enable access to corporate systems and information. May also isolate and secure environments in the data center across physical and virtual machines and applications. | ||
| Data Network | A selection of network connection offerings that enable direct data communications across the organization including its data centers, office buildings, remote locations as well as partners and service providers (including public cloud service providers) without traversing the public internet. Typically provides a greater level of performance, security, and control. | ||
| Voice Network | Voice circuits to deliver “plain old telephone service” and other advanced features including 800-services, automatic call distribution, voicemail and more. May include terrestrial and non-terrestrial (e.g., satellite) voice communication technologies. | ||
Storage
| Persist information, data, files, and other object types ranging from real-time, high-performance data storage to long-term archive storage. Different offerings also provide recovery point objectives to meet the business needs of an application based on a business impact assessment. | ||
| File & Object Storage | Secure and durable object storage where an object can be unstructured data such as documents and media files or structured data like tables. | ||
| Backup & Archive | Secure storage solutions for data backup and long-term archiving, including disk, tape, and cloud-based options. | Overlap with “Networked Storage” in storage services. Improved clarity. | |
| Networked Storage | Provides a pool of storage to a server for the purposes of hosting data and applications, or to a virtualization environment for the purposes of hosting servers. Networked Storage solutions enable redundancy, ease of management, rapid move/add/change/delete capabilities, and economies of scale. Storage array network (SAN), network attached storage (NAS) and solid state drives (SSD) storage are example technologies. | ||
| Distributed Storage (CDN) | Stores and serves high-bandwidth content at the edge network to reduce latency and improve application performance. | ||
Workplace
User-facing solutions that deliver access, communication, and productivity tools (e.g. client devices, software, and connectivity) to support day-to-day workforce operations.
| Category | Name | Description | Change from Version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client Computing | Provide physical and virtual devices and associated software and connectivity that enable users to interact with the enterprise’s technology systems and third-party systems. | ||
| Bring Your Own Device | Enables users to bring in their own personal computing devices (laptop, tablet, smartphone) and connect to the organization’s corporate network in accordance with the organization’s security and other standards. Standard support may include connectivity to access business applications, information, and other technology resources, as well as other security, back-up, updates and patches, remote access, and centralized service desk. | ||
| Computer | Computers, workstations, laptop, tablet, and similar devices. | Removed references to “IT” and mention of which department requests can be routed to. Condensed description to allow for customized device packages. | |
| Mobile | Mobile phones and smartphones. | Removed references to “IT”. Condensed description to allow for customized device packages. | |
| Virtual Client | The virtualization of desktop and application software enables PC and tablet functionality to be separate from the physical device used to access those functions – whether a fixed or mobile workspace environment. Virtual Workspaces may have different, pre-configured packages of software application and enable access from multiple devices. Advanced desktop management provides higher levels of flexibility, security, backup, and disaster recover capabilities. | ||
| Communication & Collaboration | Allow end users to communicate with other people via email or chat, to collaborate through shared workspaces, and to create and print content such as documents, presentations, videos, and other forms. | ||
| Collaboration | Collaborative tools enabling teamwork and document sharing across distributed teams, supporting real-time and asynchronous communication to achieve shared goals. | Overlap with “Communication” in enabling shared work and communication. | |
| Communication | Solutions enabling communication through email, messaging, conferencing, and voice calls, supporting internal and external collaboration. | Improved clarity. | |
| A variety of peripheral devices that enable the distribution of information. Specialized devices may offer one or all these solutions – print, copy, and fax. Printing output creates a “hard copy” of digital documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. Scan inputs a hardcopy document into a digital format for a computer to use. | |||
| Productivity | End user application software enabling the creation and distribution of information in a variety of formats including documents, presentations, spreadsheet, modeling tools, project management, databases, desktop publishing, web design, graphics and image editing, audio/video editing and CD/DVD recording. | ||
| Connectivity | Provide users with access to the enterprise’s technology systems. This includes wired and wireless access while on premise and remote access while away from the enterprise. | ||
| Network Access | A set of connection solutions which enable users to access a private or public network from their client computing device. Once connected, as part of the network they can access business applications and information; and can communicate and collaborate with other users on the network. Often, this may be bundled with a Client Computing solution. | ||
| Remote Access | A set of connection solutions which enable users to access the organization’s internal private network from their client computing device when away from the corporate facilities. Once connected, the user can access the organization’s business applications and information. Often, this may be bundled with a Client Computing solution. | ||
Business
Solutions enabled by the Technology organization to support business capabilities (e.g. product management, customer engagement, and service delivery) that help the enterprise win, serve, and retain customers.
| Category | Name | Description | Change from Version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Management | Enables the planning, design, and development of products that deliver business or customer value. This category includes capabilities for managing product roadmaps, gathering requirements, coordinating cross-functional development, and supporting iterative delivery and lifecycle optimization. | Added missing Category description. | |
| Product Development | Enables product design and development including innovation management, computer aided design, simulation visualization, enterprise feedback, and social product feedback and crowdsourcing. | ||
| Product Planning | Enables product life-cycle management including requirements management, product data management, change and configuration management, manufacturing process management, quality management, product analytics, and risk and compliance management. | ||
| Sales & Marketing | Drives customer engagement, demand generation, and revenue growth through data-driven insights, targeted outreach, and sales execution. This category includes capabilities for marketing automation, advertising, customer and product analytics, direct and channel sales management, and digital or in-person selling across B2B and B2C models. | ||
| Customer Analytics | Solutions providing insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends to drive strategic decisions. | ||
| Customer Sales | Enables B2C commerce platforms, B2B commerce platforms, product configurations, POS platforms and payments. | ||
| Marketing & Advertising | Enables marketing automation, online marketing, mobile marketing, and ad technologies. | ||
| Sales Force & Channel Management | Enables sales force automation, sales enablement and training, partner relationship management and pricing management. | ||
| Manufacturing & Delivery | Supports the production and fulfillment of goods and services across physical and digital channels. This category includes capabilities for inventory and warehouse management, production and fabrication, logistics and delivery execution, service workforce deployment, and forward-looking resource planning across supply and demand cycles. | ||
| Inventory & Warehousing | Solutions supporting inventory tracking, supply chain scheduling, warehouse management, and returns management. | ||
| Manufacturing | Solutions enabling the planning, scheduling, and execution of manufacturing processes, including equipment maintenance and production quality assurance. | ||
| Product Delivery | Solutions focused on managing logistics, fleet/transportation, supply-demand matching, and delivery tracking for physical products. | ||
| Service Delivery | Enables the delivery of nontangible solutions including resource scheduling, engagement management, professional services, education, and service quality. | ||
| Resource Planning | Solutions supporting the scheduling and delivery of non-tangible services, such as professional services and customer engagements. | ||
| Customer Service | Enables organizations to support, manage, and fulfill customer needs across service interactions and transaction lifecycles. Capabilities in this category span order intake and fulfillment, as well as omnichannel customer care, including issue resolution, knowledge delivery, and field service enablement. | ||
| Order Management | Solutions for managing order lifecycles, including contract management, pricing optimization, billing, and payment processing. | ||
| Customer Care | Solutions enabling customer communication, issue resolution, and support through multi-channel platforms, including knowledge bases, workforce automation, and field service management. | ||
Shared & Corporate
Solutions enabled by the Technology organization to support internal business functions and enterprise operations. These solutions typically automate or enhance shared service functions such as Finance, Human Resources, Legal, and other administrative domains that sustain the organization’s core operating model.
| Category | Name | Description | Change from Version 4.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance | Enable the financial management of the enterprise. | ||
| Planning & Management Accounting | Enables the strategic allocation of funds in support of established future and current business goals, including planning, budgeting and forecasting, ad-hoc analysis and reporting to inform and guide leadership in the ongoing determination and understanding of business strategy related financial goals, incentives, progress and impact. | ||
| Revenue Accounting | Enables the comparison of revenue targets to actual achievement. Supervisory responsibility over all transactions and entries (receivables, payables, intercompany movements) that pass into the final periodic accounts of an entity, and support int./ext. analysis and communication of profit on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. (Determination of whether this includes the actual lifecycle processing of payments due from customers, is based on entity type, sector, and scale – see Accounts Receivable). | ||
| Accounts Receivable | Enables the complete lifecycle of invoicing and receipts processing to ensure the business is paid by its customers, including Invoicing, payment receipt, processing, error handling, PO setup (as a supplier) reconciliation, reporting and collections. | ||
| General Accounting & Reporting | Enables financial statement preparation (balance sheet, statements of income, cash flows, shareholders’ equity etc.) in accordance with accepted accounting principles. Also includes responsibilities to classify, determine, analyze, interpret, consolidate, and communicate financial information to support up-to-date business decisions for better management & control, and regulatory/legislative compliance (in conjunction with Management Accounting) of costs, assets & equipment. In certain contexts, can include grant activities related to the funding and reporting of non-repayable funds provided to corporate, academic or agency entities. | ||
| Project Accounting | Solutions that enable managing accounts for large investment projects, often requiring significant capital outlays over multiple years. Managing investment against major milestone, product or activity expenditures during the course of a project, supporting project, portfolio and program leadership with insight to understand their progress & efficiency toward target. | Replaced “Applications and services” with “Solutions”. | |
| Payroll & Time Reporting | Enables the handling of reported time, and the ongoing processing and payment of wages, salaries, and benefits, including quality assurance and error handling (but excl. benefits management). Also inclusive of time keeping, and the capture, aggregation, measurement, validation, and transmission of staff time. | ||
| Accounts Payables & Expense Reimbursement | Solutions to manage outgoing payments to suppliers and reimbursements to employees, including invoice processing and payment issuance. | Overlaps with “Payroll & Time Reporting” and “Accounts Receivable”. Improved clarity. | |
| Treasury | Enables the management and optimization of daily liquidity, excess cash, and financial risk via investment activities (e.g. hedging, debt instrument purchase/sale, overnight and short-term institutional investments, and funds transfers) focused on supporting ongoing business operations across the entire company, or regionally. Also includes the governance, control, assessment, and risk management activities required to ensure effectiveness. | ||
| Tax | Enables managing the organization’s financial accounts specific to the world-wide management, optimization and payment of tax, and related evidence & documentation. This includes, planning, estimations & analysis of the tax position and impact, related transfer pricing strategies, tax return preparation, timely payment, and required authorizations. It also encompasses the orchestration of record retention in support of regulatory requirements and internal policy. | ||
| Workforce | Enables management of the employees and contractors of the business or organization. In the broadest terms, it includes the activities to select, recruit, develop, reward, retain, counsel, and retire employees. Includes the management of employee information including workforce analytics. | ||
| Recruitment | Enables determining and handling employee recruiting, sourcing, and selection, including requirements gathering; advertising; order creation; agency placement; application receipt, review, filtering; candidate & agency contact; applicant screening & investigations; offering & negotiations; records management. Can also include prior employees. | ||
| Employee Transitions & Separation | Enables managing employee (and less commonly vendor staff) transitions of a vertical, horizontal, geographic, mission, or structural nature, including management & administration of programs for: foreign assignment, reassignment, re-deployment, promotion/demotion, separation, outplacement, leave of absence, repatriation, and retirement. | ||
| Workforce Management | Enables managing employee focused processes and information for workforce analysis & reporting; inquiry & resolution; employment verification; HR data / information; refreshing / updating indicators of employee retention and motivation, working with time & attendance systems (excluding items like actual survey or assessment delivery). | ||
| Performance, Retention & Rewards Management | Enables creating frameworks for, and performing the management & administration of, programs for rewarding, motivating, and recognizing employees with the objective of retaining them and enabling career path growth (incl. distributions). | ||
| Benefits Management | Enables the management, administration & processing of employee benefits, benefit plans, staff enrollment, claims, funding & entitlements; and includes analysis and planning, provider selection, employee communications & education, and regulatory compliance. | ||
| Policy Management | Solutions for creating, maintaining, and enforcing policies to govern workforce behavior, compliance, and operational standards. | Improved clarity. | |
| Employee Development | Enables employees (and less commonly contractors/providers), with skills, knowledge, and/or capability development, and education. This extends to new hire onboarding / orientation; technical or business skills training; safety, security, conduct, ethics & compliance training; procedural and other legal or organizational aspects. (Excludes education as part of employee Transitions). Also includes program & course creation, delivery, management, and reporting. | ||
| Employee Communications & Relations | Enables crafting and execution of employee communications plans, its supporting messages, distribution channels and formats, to initiate interaction for: promoting horizontal or vertical employee engagement across the organization; creating awareness (e.g. of new policy, practices, or other internal / external events or actions of relevance); assessing satisfaction and engagement levels and drivers. | ||
Vendor & Procurement
| Enable the procurement of goods and services required for a business to enable its activity including development of sourcing strategies, vendor selection, contract negotiations, ordering of materials & services and ongoing vendor and contract management. | ||
| Sourcing and Procurement | Enables creating strategies, standards, and processes for procuring goods and services from approved sources. Establishes a procurement process that describes the approach, policy, and guidelines for purchasing activities including evaluation & sourcing of suppliers. Creates sourcing relationships to continuously improve price performance. Re-evaluates and assesses of purchasing activities, standards, pricing and impact across the value chain and supplier landscape. | ||
| Supplier Management | Enables evaluating supplier options to select the most effective, efficient, and low risk suppliers. Validates selected suppliers. Use internal/external data, analysis, and feedback to rank and manage strategic and non-strategic suppliers to optimize vendor spend and output, including the ongoing management and reporting of supplier performance (e.g. output quality, delivery cycle times). May also include survey and research activities. | ||
| Contract Management | Enables the intake and management of vendor contracts. Keeping contracts current with routine evaluation. Ensure proactive dissemination of knowledge to key stakeholders regarding renewals, expirations, price changes, volume thresholds or other contract aspects, to provide adequate lead times and avoid lapses in service, or surprise / unplanned expenditures. | ||
| Health, Safety, and Environmental | Enables management to provide a safe environment for the organization, environment and residents including policy, oversight, healthcare, occupational safety, and threat assessment. | Changed the Category title to better reflect the nested Names. | |
| Policy & Governance | Enables determining the desired outcomes, obligations, conduct, and impacts related to personal and environmental health and safety. Creating and implementing the HSE program. Train and educate employees on the HSE program. Oversee and manage the HSE program. | Reworded description for consistency and clarity. | |
| Oversight & Enforcement | Enables monitoring and oversight of policy adherence and enforcement activities (including investigations) related to environmental, health and safety standards, should activity fall outside of defined processes, regulations, or legislation. | ||
| Healthcare Services | Enables the definition and structuring of health services provided to/by the workforce, to promote preventative health and basic treatment, including the provision of on-site health services. | ||
| Occupational Safety | Enables the programmatic evaluation and management of risks & opportunities that may affect industry-specific or role-related personal health and safety of employees, contractors, or other third parties. Provide required compliance and reporting as required by local and national governing bodies. | ||
| Risk, Audit & Compliance | Enables management to proactively measure and mitigate the risk of the business and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements. | ||
| Risk Management | Enables establishing umbrella frameworks, management activities, policy and related procedures and requirements for the entire organization, to defend against risks that may negatively impact the viability, growth, performance, health, stability, competitiveness, preparedness, or reputation of an ongoing concern, state, product or service. Ensures the identification, detection, assessment, monitoring and communication of risk and the execution of risk management activities across all levels of the organization, including all risk facets, including but not limited to sector, organization, operations, compliance, data, personal privacy, cyber, espionage, geo-political, etc. | ||
| Breach Management & Remediation | Enables administering the efforts and activities for breach assessment / estimation of impact and causality, as well as containment and remediation efforts. This may require the creation of plans for corrective action, even in collaboration with government agencies and pertinent professional services firms specialized in remediation efforts relevant to the organization’s operations. Includes generation of new recommendations for implementation by Risk Management to be embedded as part of the ongoing capability/process. | ||
| Business Continuity Planning & Management | Solutions focusing on assessing business impact, creating resilience strategies, and conducting preparedness training to mitigate risks before disruptions occur. | Overlap in purpose but lack distinction between the two scopes. | |
| Auditing | Enables the internal or external planning, preparation, execution and review of internal control mechanisms, policies, and procedures in order to manage internal controls. Includes observation, reviews, interviews, fact-finding and the generation of recommendations and designs of control activities to be implemented. Monitor and review control effectiveness, remediate control deficiencies, and enable compliance functions. Can also include the implementation and maintenance of technologies and tools to enable internal controls-related activities. | ||
| Investigations | Enables following up on a breach of standard operating procedures to identify, locate and understand the impact of the breach. An investigation can include searching, research, interviews, evidence collection, data preservation and various methods of investigation, as well as the gathering and documentation of findings & observations, and reporting of them. | ||
| Records Management | Enables managing codified information in an organization throughout its life cycle and state/form, from the time of creation or inscription to its access and eventual disposition. This includes identifying, classifying, storing, securing, retrieving, tracking, and destroying or permanently preserving records, including digital and physical. | ||
| Legal | Enables legal counsel to support the organization’s governance and operations including discovery, litigation, contract reviews and intellectual property protection. | ||
| Legal Counsel | Enables providing guidance and legal practices to abide by the law involving the practical application of legal theories, laws, regulations, and knowledge to govern the organization’s messaging, product, and business operations. This includes the safeguarding (incl. litigation) and defense of intellectual property, brand value, confidential information, corporate and personal exposure to liability (physical or environment injury, cyber etc.) and many other forms and applications of law. | ||
| Case Management | Enables managing the (mostly) administrative lifecycle of legal cases, including matter management, time and billing, document completion and submittal, monitoring case status, scheduling hearings and meetings, time and billing, orchestration of litigation support, collaboration and communications, record storage and search. | ||
| Contract Review | Enables reviewing and negotiating terms to reach a final draft of a contract that is acceptable to all parties. Contracts may include non-disclosure agreements, master service agreements, statements of work and other types of contracts. | ||
| Property & Facility | Enables management to provide the facilities for the organization including development & space planning, physical security, workplace services, fleet management (non-logistics), food services and the maintenance of facilities and equipment. | ||
| Development & Space Planning | Enables planning the use, services, acquisition, and construction or build out, of non-performing or performing real property (whether owned or leased) for the organization. Execution of the planning, approvals, and acquisition of a site, for the build out or installation of real property or assets that may or may not yield direct income or house staff, equipment, or inventory. Creation of long-term vision, strategies, and standards for acquiring, developing, and managing purchased / leased / retained property and improvements. | ||
| Workspace Solutions | Enables provisioning workspaces and related assets, and management of that provisioning effort. The orchestration and/or installation of office, shared community or light industrial spaces according to requirements (e.g. tables, chairs, couches, monitors, AV equipment, privacy screens, cubicles, doors, appliances, lighting, cabling, shelving, racks etc.). Not intended for large scale industrial/plant construction. Excludes Physical Security. | ||
| Physical Security | Solutions managing the physical security of assets and people through barriers, access controls, and monitoring systems. | Improved clarity. | |
| Operations, Maintenance, Repair & Improvements | Enables preserving and improving productive assets through the planning, managing, and performance of preventative, routine, and critical maintenance work, and occasional improvements to those existing facilities or equipment. | ||
| Fleet Management (non-logistics) | Enables managing vehicles used to support the transportation of the workforce and may include vehicle financing, maintenance, telematics, and scheduling. Vehicles may include cars, vans, trucks, motorized carts, bicycles, and other forms of transportation. Does not include transportation associated with the shipment of the organization’s products or service delivery. | ||
| Food & Beverage | Enables providing and managing on-site food and beverage services for consumption by the organization’s workforce. | ||
| Corporate Communications | Enables management to orchestrate internal and external communications aimed at creating a favorable view among stakeholders including public relations, stakeholder relations, government relations, external relations, and community outreach. | ||
| Stakeholder Relations | Enables fostering external relationships with stakeholders of the entity, including investors, government and industry, the board of directors, and the public. This is not related to customer management. | ||
| Government Relations | Enables creating and maintaining relationships with government and industry representatives. Persuading public and government policy at the local, regional, national, and global level (subject to government regulations). | ||
| External Communications | Enables developing and managing relations with media. Develop connections with journalists to solicit critical, third-party endorsements for a product, issue, service, or organization. | ||
| Community Outreach | Solutions to foster community engagement, support outreach programs, and build organizational goodwill through local and global initiatives. | Improved clarity. | |
Artificial Intelligence
Solutions enabling scalable, adaptive capabilities that enhance productivity, decision-making, and experience. Through technologies such as generative models, agent-based automation, and predictive intelligence, these solutions reduce manual effort, surface actionable insights, and optimize business and operational performance.
| Category | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Agentic | Operate autonomously or semi-autonomously to execute tasks, coordinate systems, or pursue goals based on high-level input. They often combine planning, memory, reasoning, and interaction capabilities. | |
| Autonomous Navigation | Enables physical or digital systems to perceive environments, plan routes, and navigate independently using sensor data and real-time decision-making. | |
| Autonomous Workflow Agent | Performs rule-based and adaptive actions across business or technical workflows with limited or no human intervention, based on goals, context, or learned behavior. | |
| Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) | Combines robotic process automation with machine learning and analytics to automate multi-step business processes and adapt to changes in context or inputs. | |
| Generative | Create new content, artifacts, or data based on learned patterns. These systems can produce text, code, images, simulations, and other outputs—often enabling new user experiences, accelerating development, or enhancing creativity and ideation. | |
| Image & Video Generation | Creates synthetic visual content using AI techniques such as generative adversarial networks (GANs) or diffusion models, supporting design, simulation, and media production use cases. | |
| Speech, Music, and Audio Generation | Generates human-like or stylized audio content, including voice, sound effects, and music, using trained AI models to support creative, accessibility, or automation scenarios. | |
| Synthetic Data Generation | Creates artificial datasets that replicate the statistical properties of real data, used for training, testing, privacy protection, or bias mitigation in machine learning workflows. | |
| Text Generation | Produces human-like or domain-specific written content using language models, supporting tasks such as summarization, content drafting, translation, or conversational output. | |
| Interpretive | Extract meaning and structure from unstructured data such as language, images, and audio. These solutions enable classification, tagging, recognition, and contextual understanding, forming the foundation for many intelligent interfaces and analytics capabilities. | |
| Computer Vision | Enables machines to interpret and act on visual inputs such as images or video by detecting objects, classifying content, and understanding spatial relationships. | |
| Document Processing | Uses AI to extract, classify, and structure information from unstructured or semi-structured documents such as forms, invoices, or contracts. | |
| Natural Language Processes | Supports the interpretation and transformation of human language, including language translation, entity extraction, sentiment analysis, and intent detection. | |
| Speech Recognition & Processing | Converts spoken language into structured text and identifies characteristics such as speaker, emotion, or command intent in real time or recorded audio. | |
| Predictive | Applies statistical models and machine learning to forecast future outcomes, behaviors, or risks based on historical and real-time data. Solutions in this category help anticipate events, such as equipment failures or customer actions, to inform proactive decisions and mitigate risk. | |
| Predictive Analytics | Applies statistical and machine learning techniques to identify patterns and forecast future outcomes based on historical and real-time data. | |
| Predictive Maintenance | Forecasts equipment or asset failures using sensor data and usage patterns to optimize maintenance scheduling and reduce unplanned downtime. | |
| Risk Scoring | Generates probabilistic assessments of risk across domains such as fraud, compliance, credit, or security, using historical data and predictive modeling. | |
| Prescriptive | Uses optimization techniques, rules engines, and AI-driven decision logic to recommend or automate the best course of action in complex scenarios. This category focuses on improving operational efficiency and strategic planning through automated recommendations and scenario-based planning. | |
| Automated Planning & Scheduling | Uses AI to dynamically generate and adjust task plans, workforce schedules, or resource allocations to optimize time, capacity, or efficiency. | |
| Decision Optimization | Identifies the most effective course of action among alternatives by modeling constraints, goals, and trade-offs using mathematical optimization or AI techniques. | |
| Recommendation Service | Delivers personalized content, products, or actions to users or systems by analyzing preferences, context, and behavior patterns in real time. | |
TBM Taxonomy v4.1
Released: November 4, 2023
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Taxonomy Graphics (PPT)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 4.1 of the TBM Taxonomy refined the structure and language introduced in version 4.0, continuing to evolve the taxonomy in support of strategic technology decision-making. While no changes were made to the Cost Pool or Solutions layers, this release added new sub-towers to the Tower layer and introduced important conceptual clarifications in the whitepaper.
Most notably, version 4.1 clarified the distinction between layers and views. In previous versions, the terms were sometimes used interchangeably, particularly when discussing Solutions and Business Capabilities. In v4.1, these elements are more clearly defined:
- Layers are structured taxonomies (e.g., Cost Pools, Towers, Solutions, Business) used for modeling.
- Views are contextual perspectives (e.g., Cost View, Business Capability View) used for communicating or analyzing the data modeled in layers.
The Towers Layer was expanded to reflect a growing emphasis on data and people as foundational technology domains. New sub-towers were introduced for Data Management, Data Operations, and IT Human Capital Management, enhancing the taxonomy’s ability to support organizations investing in governance, analytics, and talent.
Summary of Key Changes from v4.0 to v4.1
- Conceptual Clarifications:
- Clear distinction made between layers (taxonomic models) and views (analytical lenses)
- Layers represent structured data; views represent how data is interpreted or analyzed
- Tower Additions:
- New sub-towers under Platform and IT Management
- Data Operations
- Data Management
- IT Human Capital Management
- New sub-towers under Platform and IT Management
- Structural Stability:
- No changes to the Cost Pool or Solutions layer structure or definitions
- Change log included in the official data tables for clarity and auditability
Changes Between v4.0 and v4.1
Cost Pool Layer
Change Type | Cost Pool | Cost Sub-Pool | Description |
(No changes to cost pool structure or definitions in this version) |
Towers Layer
Change Type | Tower | Sub-Tower | Description |
Added | IT Management | IT Human Capital Management | New sub-tower introduced in v4.1 |
Added | IT Management | Data Management | New sub-tower introduced in v4.1 |
Added | Platform | Data Operations | New sub-tower introduced in v4.1 |
Solutions Layer
Change Type | Service Type | Service Category | Service Name | Description |
(No changes to the Solutions layer in this version) |
TBM Taxonomy v4.0
Released: December 16, 2020
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Taxonomy Graphics (PPT)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 4.0 of the TBM Taxonomy introduced meaningful conceptual refinements to better reflect how technology investments deliver business value. The most visible change was the renaming of the Products & Services Layer to the Solutions Layer. This change clarified that a Solution is a deliverable that takes the form of a Product, Service, or Application—not a combination of them. The updated model shifts attention from categorizing technical components to identifying what IT provides and how those offerings support business capabilities.
Version 4.0 also introduced a new Business Layer, which sits above the Solutions Layer. This layer defines the business capabilities, functions, and value streams that IT solutions enable or support. By explicitly modeling the consumer of the solution, the taxonomy now supports clearer traceability from IT cost and performance to business outcomes. The Business Layer is essential for TBM use cases related to business capability mapping, investment alignment, and portfolio management.
The Towers Layer—previously referred to as IT Resource Towers—was simplified to just Towers, reflecting a broader scope and alignment with evolving infrastructure and platform domains. Two new sub-towers were added under Platform, and several tower definitions were updated to improve clarity and consistency.
In addition to structural changes, the v4.0 whitepaper introduced several important new sections:
- A detailed explanation of Solutions as business value constructs
- Clarifications on how to extend the taxonomy to model custom services or solutions
- New guidance on mapping organizational data to the taxonomy layers
- A preview of the future direction of TBM, including references to agile, product-centric funding, and digital transformation use cases
Summary of Key Changes from v3.0.2 to v4.0
- Layer Renames:
- Products & Services Layer → Solutions Layer
- IT Resource Towers → Towers
- Conceptual Update:
- A Solution is defined as a Product, Service, or Application delivered by IT
- New model emphasizes outcomes over component tracking
- Structural Additions:
- Two new sub-towers under Platform: Big Data and Container Orchestration
- Multiple tower definitions updated for accuracy and relevance
- Whitepaper Enhancements:
- New guidance on solution modeling, taxonomy extension, and mapping practices
- Forward-looking alignment with Agile, Product Management, and Digital transformation
Changes Between v3.0.2 and v4.0
Cost Pool Layer
Change Type | Cost Pool | Cost Sub-Pool | Description |
(No changes to cost pool structure or definitions in this version) |
Towers Layer (formerly IT Towers)
Change Type | Tower | Sub-Tower | Description |
Added | Platform | Big Data | New sub-tower introduced in v4.0 |
Added | Platform | Container Orchestration | New sub-tower introduced in v4.0 |
Definition Changed | Application | Business Software | Definition updated to clarify licensing/SaaS distinction |
Definition Changed | Compute | Servers | Clarified to include cloud-based compute and virtualized systems |
Definition Changed | Delivery | Operations Center | Scope clarified to emphasize centralized support functions |
Solutions Layer (formerly Products & Services Layer)
Change Type | Service Type | Service Category | Service Name | Description |
Moved | Delivery | Development | Design & Development | Moved from Delivery Services > Development |
Moved | Delivery | Development | System Integration | Moved from Delivery Services > Development |
Added | Delivery | Development | Modernization & Migration | New service introduced in v4.0 |
Moved | Delivery | Development | Testing | Moved from Delivery Services > Development |
Moved | Delivery | Operations | Capacity Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Operations |
Moved | Delivery | Operations | Deployment & Administration | Moved from Delivery Services > Operations |
Moved | Delivery | Operations | Event Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Operations |
Moved | Delivery | Operations | IT Service Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Operations |
Moved | Delivery | Operations | Scheduling | Moved from Delivery Services > Operations |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Governance, Risk & Compliance | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Identity & Access Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Security Awareness | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Cyber Security & Incident Response | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Threat & Vulnerability Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Security & Compliance | Data Privacy & Security | Moved from Delivery Services > Security & Compliance |
Moved | Delivery | Strategy & Planning | Business Solution Consulting | Moved from Delivery Services > Strategy & Planning |
Moved | Delivery | Strategy & Planning | Enterprise Architecture | Moved from Delivery Services > Strategy & Planning |
Moved | Delivery | Strategy & Planning | Innovation & Ideation | Moved from Delivery Services > Strategy & Planning |
Moved | Delivery | Strategy & Planning | IT Vendor Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Strategy & Planning |
Moved | Delivery | Strategy & Planning | Program, Product & Project Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Strategy & Planning |
Moved | Delivery | Strategy & Planning | Technology Business Management | Moved from Delivery Services > Strategy & Planning |
Moved | Delivery | Support | Application Support | Moved from Delivery Services > Support |
Moved | Delivery | Support | Central Print | Moved from Delivery Services > Support |
Moved | Delivery | Support | IT Training | Moved from Delivery Services > Support |
Moved | Delivery | Support | Service Desk | Moved from Delivery Services > Support |
Moved | Workplace | Client Computing | Bring Your Own Device | Moved from End User Services > Client Computing |
Moved | Workplace | Client Computing | Computer | Moved from End User Services > Client Computing |
Moved | Workplace | Client Computing | Mobile | Moved from End User Services > Client Computing |
Moved | Workplace | Client Computing | Virtual Client | Moved from End User Services > Client Computing |
Moved | Workplace | Communication & Collaboration | Collaboration | Moved from End User Services > Communication & Collaboration |
Moved | Workplace | Communication & Collaboration | Communication | Moved from End User Services > Communication & Collaboration |
Moved | Workplace | Communication & Collaboration | Moved from End User Services > Communication & Collaboration | |
Moved | Workplace | Communication & Collaboration | Productivity | Moved from End User Services > Communication & Collaboration |
Moved | Workplace | Connectivity | Network Access | Moved from End User Services > Connectivity |
Moved | Workplace | Connectivity | Remote Access | Moved from End User Services > Connectivity |
Moved | Infrastructure | Compute | Compute on Demand | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Compute |
Moved | Infrastructure | Compute | Mainframe | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Compute |
Moved | Infrastructure | Compute | Physical Compute | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Compute |
Moved | Infrastructure | Compute | Virtual Compute & Containers | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Compute |
Moved | Infrastructure | Data Center | Enterprise Data Center | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Data Center |
Moved | Infrastructure | Data Center | Other Data Center | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Data Center |
Moved | Infrastructure | Network | Data Network | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Network |
Moved | Infrastructure | Network | Domain Services | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Network |
Moved | Infrastructure | Network | Internet Connectivity | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Network |
Moved | Infrastructure | Network | Load Balancing | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Network |
Moved | Infrastructure | Network | Virtual Private Network | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Network |
Moved | Infrastructure | Network | Voice Network | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Network |
Moved | Infrastructure | Storage | Backup & Archive | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Storage |
Moved | Infrastructure | Storage | Networked Storage | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Storage |
Moved | Infrastructure | Storage | Distributed Storage (CDN) | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Storage |
Moved | Infrastructure | Storage | File & Object Storage | Moved from Infrastructure Services > Storage |
Moved | Platform | Application | Application Hosting | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Moved | Platform | Application | Content Management | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Added | Platform | Application | Development Platform | New service introduced in v4.0 |
Moved | Platform | Application | Foundation Platform | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Moved | Platform | Application | Decision Intelligence & Automation | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Moved | Platform | Application | Message Bus & Integration | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Moved | Platform | Application | Search | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Moved | Platform | Application | Streaming | Moved from Platform Services > Application |
Moved | Platform | Data | Data Analytics & Visualizations | Moved from Platform Services > Data |
Moved | Platform | Data | Data Management | Moved from Platform Services > Data |
Moved | Platform | Data | Data Warehouse | Moved from Platform Services > Data |
Moved | Platform | Data | Database | Moved from Platform Services > Data |
Moved | Platform | Data | Distributed Cache | Moved from Platform Services > Data |
Moved | Business | Customer Service | Customer Care | Moved from Business Services > Customer Service |
Moved | Business | Customer Service | Order Management | Moved from Business Services > Customer Service |
Moved | Business | Manufacturing & Delivery | Inventory & Warehousing | Moved from Business Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business | Manufacturing & Delivery | Manufacturing | Moved from Business Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business | Manufacturing & Delivery | Product Delivery | Moved from Business Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business | Manufacturing & Delivery | Resource Planning | Moved from Business Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business | Manufacturing & Delivery | Service Delivery | Moved from Business Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business | Sales & Marketing | Customer Analytics | Moved from Business Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business | Sales & Marketing | Customer Sales | Moved from Business Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business | Sales & Marketing | Marketing & Advertising | Moved from Business Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business | Sales & Marketing | Sales Force & Channel Management | Moved from Business Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business | Product Management | Product Development | Moved from Business Services > Product Management |
Moved | Business | Product Management | Product Planning | Moved from Business Services > Product Management |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Planning & Management Reporting | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Revenue Accounting | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Accounts Receivable | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | General Accounting & Reporting | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Project Accounting | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Payroll & Time Reporting | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Accounts Payables & Expense Reimbursement | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Treasury | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Finance | Tax | Moved from Shared Services > Finance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Recruitment | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Employee Transitions & Separation | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Workforce Management | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Performance, Retention & Rewards Management | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Benefits Management | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Policy Management | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Employee Development | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Workforce | Employee Communications & Relations | Moved from Shared Services > Workforce Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Vendor & Procurement | Sourcing and Procurement | Moved from Shared Services > Vendor & Procurement Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Vendor & Procurement | Supplier Management | Moved from Shared Services > Vendor & Procurement Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Vendor & Procurement | Contract Management | Moved from Shared Services > Vendor & Procurement Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental | Policy & Governance | Moved from Shared Services > Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental | Oversight & Enforcement | Moved from Shared Services > Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental | Healthcare Services | Moved from Shared Services > Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental | Occupational Safety | Moved from Shared Services > Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Risk, Audit & Compliance | Risk Management | Moved from Shared Services > Risk, Audit & Compliance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Risk, Audit & Compliance | Breach Management & Remediation | Moved from Shared Services > Risk, Audit & Compliance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Risk, Audit & Compliance | Business Continuity Planning & Management | Moved from Shared Services > Risk, Audit & Compliance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Risk, Audit & Compliance | Auditing | Moved from Shared Services > Risk, Audit & Compliance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Risk, Audit & Compliance | Investigations | Moved from Shared Services > Risk, Audit & Compliance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Risk, Audit & Compliance | Records Management | Moved from Shared Services > Risk, Audit & Compliance Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Legal | Legal Counsel | Moved from Shared Services > Legal Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Legal | Case Management | Moved from Shared Services > Legal Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Legal | Contract Review | Moved from Shared Services > Legal Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Property & Facility | Development & Space Planning | Moved from Shared Services > Property & Facility Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Property & Facility | Workspace Services | Moved from Shared Services > Property & Facility Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Property & Facility | Physical Security | Moved from Shared Services > Property & Facility Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Property & Facility | Operations, Maintenance, Repair & Improvements | Moved from Shared Services > Property & Facility Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Property & Facility | Fleet Management (non-logistics) | Moved from Shared Services > Property & Facility Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Property & Facility | Food & Beverage | Moved from Shared Services > Property & Facility Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Corporate Communication | Stakeholder Relations | Moved from Shared Services > Corporate Communication Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Corporate Communication | Government Relations | Moved from Shared Services > Corporate Communication Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Corporate Communication | External Communications | Moved from Shared Services > Corporate Communication Services |
Moved | Shared & Corporate | Corporate Communication | Community Outreach | Moved from Shared Services > Corporate Communication Services |
TBM Taxonomy v3.0.2
Released: November 2, 2018
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Taxonomy Graphics (PPT)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 3.0.2 of the TBM Taxonomy delivered the most substantial update since the introduction of the Platform Tower in v2.1. This release focused on expanding taxonomy coverage, improving clarity, and aligning with evolving enterprise service models. While it preserved the structural integrity of the Cost Pool and Tower layers, it introduced significant enhancements to taxonomy descriptions and the Products & Services layer.
Most notably, the Services Layer was renamed to the Products & Services Layer, acknowledging that IT delivers more than services alone—it also provides products and enabling platforms. This change marked a shift in perspective, aligning the taxonomy with emerging trends in platform delivery, digital services, and enterprise-facing product models.
The taxonomy also introduced tower-level definitions for the first time. Prior releases defined sub-towers, but v3.0.2 expanded these descriptions upward to help organizations better interpret and apply the taxonomy at a summary level.
Finally, a wide range of updates were made to the Products & Services layer, including the addition of new services related to identity management, cybersecurity, collaboration, and financial operations. Several legacy services were deprecated or consolidated to reflect modern delivery practices and reduce redundancy.
Summary of Key Changes from v2.1 to v3.0.2
- Layer Rename:
- Services Layer renamed to Products & Services Layer to reflect a broader scope of IT offerings
- Tower-Level Definitions Added:
- Definitions introduced for each top-level tower, supplementing existing sub-tower descriptions
- Expanded Service Coverage:
- New services added in categories such as:
- Security & Compliance
- Collaboration Services
- Identity & Access Management
- Accounts Payable, Tax Management, Customer Management
- New services added in categories such as:
- Service Realignment:
- Dozens of services were reorganized under new types or categories to improve clarity and alignment with IT service management practices
- Legacy Services Removed:
- Obsolete services removed from the taxonomy, including:
- Tape Backup
- Patch Management
- Batch Job Scheduling
- System Monitoring
- Obsolete services removed from the taxonomy, including:
- Cost Pool and Tower Layers Stabilized:
- No structural changes to the Cost Pool layer
- No new towers or sub-towers added; tower structure from v2.1 remained intact
Changes Tables
Cost Pool Layer
Change Type | Cost Pool | Cost Sub-Pool | Description |
Definition Added | All Cost Pools | Cost Pool-level definitions introduced for the first time in the whitepaper. |
IT Tower Layer
Change Type | IT Tower | IT Sub-Tower | Description |
Definition Added | All IT Towers | IT Tower-level definitions introduced in the whitepaper to complement existing sub-tower definitions. |
Products & Services Layer
Change Type | Service Type | Service Category | Service Name | Description |
Added | Delivery Services | Security & Compliance | Identity & Access Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Delivery Services | Security & Compliance | Security Awareness | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Delivery Services | Security & Compliance | Cyber Security & Incident Response | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Delivery Services | Security & Compliance | Threat & Vulnerability Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Delivery Services | Security & Compliance | Data Privacy & Security | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Platform Services | Application | Foundation Platform | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Platform Services | Application | Decision Intelligence & Automation | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Moved | Business Services | Customer Service | Customer Care | Moved from Business Application Services > Customer Service |
Moved | Business Services | Customer Service | Order Management | Moved from Business Application Services > Customer Service |
Moved | Business Services | Manufacturing & Delivery | Inventory & Warehousing | Moved from Business Application Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business Services | Manufacturing & Delivery | Manufacturing | Moved from Business Application Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business Services | Manufacturing & Delivery | Product Delivery | Moved from Business Application Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business Services | Manufacturing & Delivery | Resource Planning | Moved from Business Application Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business Services | Manufacturing & Delivery | Service Delivery | Moved from Business Application Services > Manufacturing & Delivery |
Moved | Business Services | Sales & Marketing | Customer Analytics | Moved from Business Application Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business Services | Sales & Marketing | Customer Sales | Moved from Business Application Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business Services | Sales & Marketing | Marketing & Advertising | Moved from Business Application Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business Services | Sales & Marketing | Sales Force & Channel Management | Moved from Business Application Services > Sales & Marketing |
Moved | Business Services | Product Management | Product Development | Moved from Business Application Services > Product Management |
Moved | Business Services | Product Management | Product Planning | Moved from Business Application Services > Product Management |
Added | Shared Services | Finance Services | Planning & Management Reporting | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Moved | Shared Services | Finance Services | Revenue Accounting | Moved from Business Application Services > Finance |
Added | Shared Services | Finance Services | Accounts Receivable | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Finance Services | General Accounting & Reporting | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Finance Services | Project Accounting | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Finance Services | Payroll & Time Reporting | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Finance Services | Accounts Payables & Expense Reimbursement | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Moved | Shared Services | Finance Services | Treasury | Moved from Business Application Services > Finance |
Moved | Shared Services | Finance Services | Tax | Moved from Business Application Services > Finance |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Recruitment | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Employee Transitions & Separation | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Moved | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Workforce Management | Moved from Business Application Services > Human Resources |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Performance, Retention & Rewards Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Benefits Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Policy Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Employee Development | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Workforce Services | Employee Communications & Relations | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Vendor & Procurement Services | Sourcing and Procurement | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Vendor & Procurement Services | Supplier Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Vendor & Procurement Services | Contract Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services | Policy & Governance | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services | Oversight & Enforcement | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services | Healthcare Services | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Health, Safety, Security & Environmental Services | Occupational Safety | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Risk, Audit & Compliance Services | Risk Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Risk, Audit & Compliance Services | Breach Management & Remediation | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Risk, Audit & Compliance Services | Business Continuity Planning & Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Risk, Audit & Compliance Services | Auditing | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Risk, Audit & Compliance Services | Investigations | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Risk, Audit & Compliance Services | Records Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Legal Services | Legal Counsel | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Legal Services | Case Management | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Legal Services | Contract Review | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Property & Facility Services | Development & Space Planning | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Property & Facility Services | Workspace Services | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Property & Facility Services | Physical Security | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Property & Facility Services | Operations, Maintenance, Repair & Improvements | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Property & Facility Services | Fleet Management (non-logistics) | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Property & Facility Services | Food & Beverage | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Corporate Communication Services | Stakeholder Relations | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Corporate Communication Services | Government Relations | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Corporate Communication Services | External Communications | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Added | Shared Services | Corporate Communication Services | Community Outreach | New service introduced in v3.0 |
Removed | Delivery Services | Security & Compliance | Security | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Platform Services | Application | Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Cross Function Capabilities | Corporate Communications | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Cross Function Capabilities | Enterprise Knowledge Management | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Cross Function Capabilities | Legal | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Facilities & Assets | Equipment | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Facilities & Assets | Facilities | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | Accounts Payable | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | Consolidation | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | Financial Planning | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | General Accounting | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | Internal Control | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | Payroll | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Finance | Procurement | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Human Resources | Recruiting | Service removed in v3.0 |
Removed | Business Application Services | Human Resources | Talent Management | Service removed in v3.0 |
TBM Taxonomy v2.1
Released: March 1, 2018
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Taxonomy Graphics (PPT)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 2.1 of the TBM Taxonomy built on the three-layer structure introduced in version 2.0, refining how technology resources, services, and costs are modeled. This release marked an important step in the taxonomy’s evolution by introducing formal service definitions, clarifying naming conventions, and extending support for emerging platform-based architectures.
Most notably, v2.1 introduced a new Platform Tower, which reorganized several sub-towers previously housed under Compute or Application. This change recognized the increasing architectural significance of middleware, databases, and mainframe environments. The IT Management Tower was also expanded with sub-towers that better represent internal finance, vendor strategy, and IT governance functions.
In the Service layer, new services were added to reflect delivery management, event handling, and emerging AI capabilities. Definitions were added across all services to promote consistent interpretation and reporting.
At the Cost Pool layer, Subscription was retired and replaced with a new Licensing sub-pool under Software, improving alignment with financial reporting practices. Despite these refinements, v2.1 maintained backward compatibility with v2.0 by preserving the majority of structural elements and reinforcing guidance for taxonomy extension.
Summary of Key Changes from v2.0 to v2.1
- Service Definitions Introduced:
- First appearance of descriptive service definitions across all categories
- Platform Tower Introduced:
- Created to centralize middleware, mainframe, and platform elements
- Sub-towers including Middleware and Mainframe Middleware moved from other towers
- New Sub-Towers in IT Management:
- IT Finance
- IT Vendor Management
- IT Management & Strategic Planning
- New Services Added:
- Event Management, Scheduling
- Program, Product & Project Management
- Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
- Cost Pool Adjustment:
- Licensing added under Software
- Subscription removed
- Conceptual Refinement:
- The existing “TBM Model” was renamed the Conceptual Model and supported by clearer narrative
Changes Between v2.0 and v2.1
Cost Pool Layer
Change Type | First Level Element | Second Level Element | Description |
Renamed | Software | Licensing | Renamed from “Subscription” to better reflect software cost classification practices in SaaS and license-based models. |
IT Tower Layer
Change Type | First Level Element | Second Level Element | Description |
Added | Compute | High Performance Computing | New sub-tower to track cost of parallel compute systems used in research and simulations. |
Added | Platform | — | New top-level tower introduced to represent reusable infrastructure services. |
Moved | Platform | Database | Previously under “Application”. |
Moved | Platform | Middleware | Previously under “Application”. |
Moved | Platform | Mainframe Database | Previously under “Compute”. |
Moved | Platform | Mainframe Middleware | Previously under “Compute”. |
Services Layer
Change Type | First Level Element | Second Level Element | Description |
Moved | Platform | Database | Previously under “Application”. |
Moved | Platform | Middleware | Previously under “Application”. |
Moved | Platform | Mainframe Database | Previously under “Compute”. |
Moved | Platform | Mainframe Middleware | Previously under “Compute”. |
Added | Platform | Foundation Platform | New cross-cutting service representing core infrastructure enablement. |
Added | Business Services | Order Management | New business-facing service introduced in v2.1. |
Added | Shared Services | Facility & Equipment Maintenance & Repair | New facility-oriented service added under shared/corporate services. |
TBM Taxonomy v2.0
Released: October 31, 2016
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Taxonomy Graphics (PPT)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 2.0 marked a significant formalization of the TBM Taxonomy. It preserved the structure and categories from version 1.0 but introduced key advancements in how the taxonomy was interpreted, implemented, and governed.
Major changes from v1.0:
- First formal definitions for services: The services shown in v1.0 were named but not described. Version 2.0 added detailed definitions for each service and grouped them under delivery, infrastructure, platform, workplace, business, and shared services.
- Introduction of the TBM Conceptual Model: A new diagram illustrated how costs flow from the general ledger through cost pools and towers into services and business outcomes. This model became central to how the taxonomy was explained and implemented.
- Introduction of “Views”: Finance, IT, and Business Views were added to guide how stakeholders interpret TBM data. Though initially aligned with the taxonomy layers, these views signaled a shift toward role-based consumption of TBM insights.
- Formal extensibility and governance guidance: New rules clarified how organizations could extend the taxonomy—adding custom sub-categories or sub-tower elements—without altering the standard definitions that underpin benchmarks.
No structural elements were deprecated.
All cost pools, sub-pools, towers, and sub-towers from v1.0 remained intact, with enhanced definitions and implementation guidance.
TBM Taxonomy v1.0
Released: November 2013
Resources:
- Whitepaper (PDF)
- Taxonomy Graphics (PPT)
- Data Tables (CSV)
Version 1.0 of the TBM Taxonomy introduced a complete and layered model for categorizing IT costs and resources. Developed in collaboration with early adopters of Technology Business Management, this version served as the foundation for aligning financial transparency with technology service delivery.
The taxonomy was divided into three layers:
- Cost Pool Layer: Defined nine core cost pools (e.g., Internal Labor, Hardware, Software) and their associated sub-pools (e.g., Expense, Lease, Depreciation & Amortization). These categories were designed for compatibility with general ledger structures.
- IT Tower Layer: Included major towers such as Compute, Network, Storage, Application, and End User, each with detailed sub-towers. Mode of delivery distinctions (e.g., physical, virtual, cloud) were supported via sub-tower elements.
- Service Layer: While the taxonomy graphics showed a rich structure of services and applications—including groupings like Cloud Ops, App Dev, Field Support, and LoB Software—this version did not define those services in detail.
Although version 1.0 lacked formal service definitions, it provided a comprehensive structure and naming convention, setting the stage for future benchmarking, transparency, and extensibility. It emphasized the principle of layered cost modeling and reserved the right to extend the taxonomy without compromising comparability.
Join the TBM community: where innovators and leaders converge
The TBM Council is your gateway to a treasure trove of knowledge: think cutting-edge research papers, insightful case studies, and vibrant community forums where you can exchange ideas, tackle challenges, and celebrate successes with fellow practitioners.
We’re calling on organizations and forward-thinking individuals to dive into the TBM community. Participate in our events, engage in our discussions, and tap into a vast reservoir of knowledge. This isn’t just about networking; it’s about contributing to and benefiting from the collective wisdom in navigating the dynamic world of cloud computing.
